First International Nicosia Festival in October
The Municipality of Nicosia presented on Tuesday at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre, a new institution in the culture of both the city and the whole of Cyprus, the 1st International Nicosia Festival to be held at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre from October 13th until November 24th.
In his address, Nicosia Mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis spoke of the city’s obligation “to embrace our children both with our own culture and with the cultures of other peoples, other traditions, in order to accept and embrace diversity and equality, regardless of age, gender, colour, religion or sexual orientation. Our commitment to the younger generation is a strategic goal of the municipality’s cultural policy and the core of the philosophy of the 1st Nicosia International Festival.”
The President of the Nicosia Cultural Committee and the President of the Festival Leoni Orfanidou invited the public of Nicosia and Cyprus to embrace a festival where the past and present will meet and all together show the future. A festival that will showcase the theatre, music, and contemporary dance. The more than 20 performances that compose the festival program mix contemporary with classical, rebetiko with world music and Cypriot creators alongside world-class artists.
The festival’s full program was also presented at the presentation.
MUSIC
Stamatis Spanoudakis
Two weeks after his premiere at the Irodion in Athens, the great Greek composer combines brass, traditional instruments, string orchestra, rock band, guitars, classical piano, singing and chorus, to create an image of modern Greece.
Fotini Velesiotou
A musical recap of the women of rebetiko: Marika Ninou, Sotiria Bellou, Haroula Lambraki, Kaiti Gray and others. Women, who left their mark on the stages of another era and another Greece. Traces that still remain indelible. Along with Fotini Velesiotou the new singer Anatoli Margiola (Ouzeri Tsitsanis).
Eleni Mouzala presents the work of Michalis Terzis
Michalis Terzis’ work is a transcription and harmonisation for piano of 17 rebetika songs by top composers (Tsitsanis, Vamvakaris, Kaldaras, Bezos and others) that the composer created as a tribute to the composers and rebetiko and has been inducted into Unesco’s Cultural Heritage.
Eight Steps
The festival, with the support of composer Christos Philippou and lyricist Poli Kyriakos, presents eight young Cypriot performers at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre.
Andreas Papapetrou
A musical performance with 5 lyric singers and 9 musicians everywhere at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre. The audience will have the experience the forbidden and non-theatrical spaces of the theatre, but will also hear in them songs from different cultures as they combine into an amalgam of sounds embedded in the composition of the play.
MODERN DANCE
OUTWITTING THE DEVIL
Artistic Director / Choreography: Akram Khan
Inspired by a recently discovered excerpt from the Gilgamesh Babylonian Epic, one of the first major works of literature to survive in the world, Akram’s new work (2019) is a compact epic about ritual and memory. In a landscape of fallen figurines, his six characters trade their wealth and memories, seeking to fill in the fragments of ancient knowledge that have been forgotten and lost over time.
STARS
Directed by: Enrique Cabrera
Production: Aracaladanza
The Mediterranean spirit of the colour master Joan Miró inspires the international dance team from Spain to present a cocktail of sensations that immerse the whole family into the universe composed by the paintings of the great Spanish painter.
9
Choreography: Hélène Blackburn
Production: Cas Public & Kopergietery
Starting with the problem of hearing of one of the dancers, the Canadian choreographer creates a contemporary dance performance in the music of the 9th Symphony, by the completely deaf Beethoven. A show for the whole family that pushes the boundaries of silence beyond diversity.
GOLD
Conception / Choreography / Director: Lia Haraki
Production: .pelma.Lia Haraki
The energy of the human body, like gold, remains untouched at the end of time. Lia Haraki choreographs Nadina Loizidou’s teacher in a performance-ode to the energy of the female body through time.
TYRESIUS
Director / Choreography / Sets / Costumes /
Performer: Michalis Theofanous
The first presentation in Cyprus of the work of our compatriot dancer and choreographer Michalis Theofanous (star pf Bob Wilson in this year’s Epidaurus, co-star of Dimitris Papaioannou in Raw). The mythical figure of Tyresius is presented along with his “double” life, blindness and sexuality.
THEATRE
DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY
From the Vasistas Group
Directed by Argyro Chiotis
Production: Onassis Foundation
Eight actresses and a string quartet take us on a spiritual road trip with stations in Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. For the first time, Greek artists are involved with the leading work of medieval Europe. Director Argyro Chiotis and the VASISTAS team take us through the deeply personal character of the text and the course of a person from the dark experiences of daily life and the painful moments of crisis to the coming of light.
CLEAN CITY
Director – Drama: Anestis Azas, Prodromos Tsinikoris
Production: Onassis Foundation
Who is cleaning Athens? Why, in the majority, are they women and immigrants? ‘Born’ cleaners? How different are their lives from yours? A reality theatre show featuring heroines – as well as performers – five real cleaners from different countries. From university teachers to architects in their countries of origin, mothers and agitators, these women sacrifice themselves in today’s Athens for their own and fight with supernatural power, like the super heroes of everyday life.
THE WOUNDS OF THE WIND BY JUAN CARLOS RUBIO
Directed by: Barnabas Kyriazis
Production: Alpha Square
A theatrical project of discovering identities and revealing secrets that set the standards of a society based on equality and inequality. The main hero is David, who, after his father’s death, discovers in his personal belongings, love letters signed by another man.
ELENI VOLUME IV by ACHIM WIELAND, MARIOS IOANNOU
Production: SRSLYyours Ensemble
A semi-autobiographical journey by Marios Ioannou that reveals issues of social role and identity that a person is often called upon to serve in his life. A life strangely defined by appearance, gender, class, nationality. An illustration of misunderstood lives that were occasionally found in the wrong place at the wrong time.
THE LADY OF RO BY YIANNIS SKARAGAS
Directed by: Katerina Berdeka
Production: Lykofos
“I want to leave a flag instead of traces. The petty man, the Sunday table, the ancient joy. ” Fotini Baxevanis in a moving and profound human text inspired by the heroic figure of the Lady of Ro, bring to the stage a woman carrying a piece of the hearts and character of all Greeks.
THE CHILD AND THE TREE
Directed by: Philippos Constantine
Production: Silver Spotlight
From the creators of favourite children’s theatre productions Alex Panagis and Katerina Christofidou, a brand new children’s musical about love, generosity and survival.
A THOUSAND BOAT BY NATALIE HAYES
Translation: Magdalena Zira
Directed by: Magdalena Zira, Maria Karolidou and Athina Kassiou
Production: Season – Women 2019-2021
25 actors in an all-day narrative of the Trojan War on the part of women. A founding text of Western civilisation, traditionally narrated as a story of men’s heroism, is deconstructed through a choral narrative of female characters. Leading narrator the Muse of Epic Poetry, Kalliopi, Vrisida, Penelope, Hecavi, Polyxene, Creusa, Helen, Laodamia, Penthesilea, Iphigenia, Kassandra, Andromachi, and so on, tell their own story.
5 INDIVIDUALS ARE LOOKING FOR A JOURNALIST
Directed by: Kirki Karali
Production: International Cultural Relations
Three unique nights with dramatised interviews by journalist and playwright Alekos Lidoriki with notable 20th-century female personalities: Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Katina Paxinou, Cybel and Zozo Nott.
